Early in my career, probably the first ten years, I realized my poor self-image and lack of confidence drove me to be successful, but not in a good way. One of our greatest dangers as humans is seeking to derive our identity from created things rather than the Creator (Romans 1:21-23). The Bible calls this idolatry. When we do this, we become enslaved to finite things and will experience resulting psychological problems. If I am excessively anxious before or during competition – could it be that I am attaching too much of my identity to my performance? Am I perhaps idolizing the “perfect game” or what my teammates think of me? As a ministry leader, how much do I place my identity with how many people come to church from week to week, or even how much we collected in this week’s offering?
